Three arrested in connection with Operation Elveden payments

A prison officer and two other people have been arrested in connection with Operation Elveden payments, Scotland Yard has said.

Police investigating the corrupt payments to public officials by journalists arrested the prison officer, 47, a man aged 37 and a 50-year-old woman between 06:00 and 08:00am.

Three people have been arrested in connection with Operation Elveden, which is investigating corrupt payments to public officials by journalists (Pic: PA)

The trio are being questioned at separate London police stations.

These latest arrests bring the total during the inquiry to 37, police said.

Officers arrested the prison officer on suspicion of conspiracy to commit bribery and on suspicion to cause misconduct in a public office.

He was arrested at his home address in south-east London.

The second man was arrested at his home address in Morden, Surrey on suspicion of corruption, on suspicion of conspiracy to commit briber and on suspicion to cause misconduct in a public office.

Meanwhile, the 50-year-old woman was arrested at a non-residential location in Kent in connection with the same three allegations.

Scotland Yard said in a statement: ‘Today’s arrests relate to suspected payments to a public official and are not about seeking journalists to reveal confidential sources in relation to information that has been obtained legitimately.’

BBC correspondent Danny Shaw has said that people are worried that Operation Elveden, as well as Operation Weeting, the phone hacking investigation, and Operation Tuleta, which targets computer misuse, could stop journalists doing their job.